Pasta Salad With Quinoa, Grapes & Feta

Yes, something salty for once! I admit that I could bake (or eat) cake all day but I also enjoy a nice salad. We make this one quite often since it’s so delicious and fast to prepare. Quinoa became one of my favourite ingredients for a lot of dishes like lentil dhal or veggie patties. Unfortunately it’s quite expensive in here.
But have a look at the recipe or lets say at the ingredients since I rarely measure things.

Boil the pasta al dente and rinse under cold water. You can boil the quinoa at the same time in a second pot. It will take around 10 minutes. Also rinse the quinoa with cold water afterwards. Fry some sunflower seeds in a pan without oil until they get some colour. Let them cool down a bit on a plate. If you leave them in the hot pan they will burn easily.

Wash and chop the lettuce. Take the seeds out of the chili and either chop it really small or leave it in rings. You might want to taste it before. If you got a mild one you can put the whole chili in but it really depends on how hot you like it and what kind of salad dressing you will use. I like to put a chili-lemon dressing over it and therefore leave the chili out of the salad.
Cut the grapes into halves and crumble the feta with your hands. Add the pasta, the quinoa and the sunflower seeds and mix everything up. You can use any kind of dressing you like. I usually use one of the following. They both will stay good for a while if you want to make a larger portion.

It’s best to prepare this dressing in a jar or something you can close, so it can be shaken before serving. Add olive oil to the juice according to taste. I always use a bit more oil than juice. Crush 2 garlic gloves into the jar and add chopped chili to it. Spice with salt, pepper and a little bit of sugar.
You can also fry the chili and the garlic in a little bit of oil before adding it to the dressing.

Add a little bit of tomato paste (or ketchup) to the mayo and mix it up. It should be a light red. Then add some crushed garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Since the dressing will be quite thick, add some water until it’s thin enough and add more soy/pepper to taste.